Even if you’re not an artist or a graphic designer, your computer monitor is probably one of the most-used pieces of technology in your house. So just imagine the life of an artist or graphic designer…The importance of a good monitor is paramount, and the LG 34UC97 is tailor-made for anyone in search of quality.

Curved widescreen takes over dual monitoring

The new setting gives ample display for anyone; find yourself more focused, away from distractions like having to switch your gaze between two monitors back and forth.

Take your work to a new dimension

The 34-inch, 21:9 space is extremely spacious. On top of that though, the QHD resolution of 3440×1440 creates a dense, crisp display that you are able to view so much more on!

The 34UC97 stays true to the colours you see on the paper

The 34UC97 achieves color space of over 99% sRGB. It belongs to a bracket of the highest end monitors, and you can rely on 34UC97’s color output when making judgment call on how the image would come out of the printer.

Let the product speak for itself

With the 34UC97, you can transfer files whole lot faster, scan through images more efficiently, and smoothly move unto image editing phase, while not having to worry about colour inconsistency. But why not try the product yourself and immerse yourself in the world of visual comfort and colour consistency?

After two 27-inch 16:9 monitor settings were introduced to graphic designers, a bezel disrupting your line of sight, discrepant colour range between the two monitors (even when sometimes the two are identical products), and constantly having to shift images from activated toolbars have been common hindrances that weren’t going to go away any time soon. Whether it is Photoshop, Illustrator, or InDesign, monitor landscape size is directly linked to efficiency of your work. Perhaps you’ve become accustomed to the smaller annoyances and made compromises by positioning programs, folders, images tactfully, while fundamental space limitation has not been addressed properly. Until now.

LG Electronics, the recent winner at the Technical Image Press Association Awards 2014 (TIPA 2014), has come up with the perfect solution for graphic professionals: the LG 34UM95, winner of the “Best Photo Monitor” category (One of the most influential photographic and imaging press associations in the world, TIPA consists of 29 member magazines from 13 different countries). This 34-inch 34UM95 with its 21:9 screen ratio and UltraWide QHD resolution (3440 x1440) offers a set of pin-point solutions to the obstacles professional graphic designers face most often in their studios.

Space for all, without having to close any

Workable space for Photoshop next to Illustrator next to image archive in one monitor- this is hard to imagine for 27-inch 16:9 screen user, as there would be sheer shortage of space by the time you are trying to look through image clips without overlapping editing tools. LG 34UM95’s 34-inch QHD resolution densely packs up the screen with pixels so you can display multitude of image archive, toolbars, without the overlap. Ample space 34UM95 provides designers “UltraWide” view to select images from archive on the side, you can keep track of the flow of your work- it is basically two powerfully vivid displays put together, without a bezel or glare at the edge.

However heavy the load, Thunderbolt™ 2 will deliver it all 4 times faster than USB 3.0

The 34-inch 21:9 UltraWide QHD monitor has pretty impressive features on its own, but to make it really shine, high quality graphics need hardware with speed. For Mac users, connecting your new powerful Mac Pro to up to two 34UM95s with Thunderbolt™ 2 for speedy search and transfer of images from your data storage means farthest leap in clip search and transfer speed available. Fully compatible with Mac Pro, you can reap full benefits from 20Gbps speed by matching it to data storage that can handle such speed (PROMISE Pegasus2, for instance). As a plus feature, designers can simply connect the monitor to data storage to get a quick view of the image clips without having to boot their PC when checking the image stock.

The 34UM95 was built with professionals who endure long hours of monitor gazing in mind. LG’s 34UM95 display has a flicker-safe function, which stops the black bars, invisible to the human eye, from flashing on the screen. Also Reader Mode automatically modifies harmful blue lights into softer tones so that looking at screens is no more tiring than reading a book.

At the end of the day, setting up your work station is a matter of trial and error and personal preference. But graphic designers will soon realize that the 34UM95 is more than just a monitor – it’s a vivid piece of their widest imagination.

The importance of tonal values cannot be understated. The application of light and shadow to a painting is just about the most important thing to get right when it comes to creating an appealing image. Even the most beautifully composed paintings can fall flat if their values are incorrect, so before thinking about adding colour it’s a good idea to get your greyscale base image looking tip-top first.

Many of the world’s greatest digital artists begin their creative process by painting in black and white, leaving it until later to apply colour washes by way of different layer modes. But this technique is by no means exclusive to the digital realm, or even present-day artists for that matter.

Painting in monotone and applying colour later on is an approach that dates way back to the 13th Century. The verdaccio and grisaille techniques were used to lay down a monotone underpainting to which colour would be applied. While grisaille uses grey tones made from mixing black and white, whereas verdaccio appears cooler due to the additional green pigment. The tint achieved when using verdaccio is widely believed to produce more accurate skin tones when the subsequent glazes are applied.

For this image I loosely followed the same process used for a traditional oil painting to create a digital underpainting before adding colour, using verdaccio under my skin tones and grisaille under the rest of the image.

Light source Using a single light source is a good way to exaggerate facial features. This is also a convenient way to paint as it eliminates many of the complexities that arise when having to paint a subject affected by multiple sources.

Rim light A subtler secondary light source can help define the edges of figures and objects. The soft light coming from the windows on the right provide an opportunity to add some rim lighting and define the rat’s silhouette more clearly.

Vague background elements For a scene with a figure as the main focus, it is not always necessary to work lots of detail into the surroundings. Working in silhouette with a slight colour wash gives the vague impression of plants in front of the window.

Eyes Traditional portraits usually show the subject looking directly at the viewer, with the eyes and eyebrows being the facial features most responsible for conveying the subject’s emotion. It is therefore worth taking the time to make the eyes bold.

Boost values When nearing the completion of an image, a good final step is to give the values a boost. Adding a little more strength to the light and shadow can bring a painting to life in the later stages. This is easily done with an Overlay layer.

Turn to ancient stories and myths the next time you want inspiration for your characters. To get you started, we have three demons here, all inspired by Asian tales.

The monster cat

This old tom has lived so long his tail has begun to split. Now he can shape shift into human form, create zombies by leaping over corpses and knock everything off the shelf by flying. Known as the bakeneko, he has become a demon cat. Choose the Soft Bristle Watercolor tool and paint lots of finely hatched lines to portray fur, but focus on the sinuous curves that grace the feline form. Hold down the Shift key for perfect horizontal and vertical lines for the lantern – he doesn’t need one as he glows in the dark, but he likes to drink the lamp oil. Block in the cream, green, purple and red under the inks, and use a Multiply layer for the shadows again.

The lantern spook

When in Japan, don’t let objects sit around for over a hundred years or they might become possessed. The chochinobake is a spirit that haunts a paper lantern. Ink this ghoul with finer lines than the other monsters. Block in the flats and shadows as before and use the shadows in the creases of the paper to give depth to his head. That juicy eye is inspired by the artwork of the videogame Okami and is painted with the Soft Airbrush tool, as is the tongue. The blood is actually paint that has run and the eyeball hairs are merely shredded paper.

Nine-tailed fox

This villainous kitsune-tsuke is very old and powerful, as evinced by her nine long tails. She is inked over a sketch with the Scratchboard Rake tool on a new layer set to Multiply. Hundreds of little lines simulate the look of stylised fur seen in old Japanese artwork. Create a new layer beneath the ink and paint with dull cream for the shadow layer. Duplicate the layer, lock its transparency and Flood Fill with a lighter cream. Set it to Overlay and use the Eraser tool to carve out shadows on the body and tails. Create a new layer and paint those fun red markings.

It can be really difficult to paint convincing ice – what should be a solid but transparent matter can quickly end up as anything but.

Here’s a quick guide to giving the impression of ice, concentrating on the lighting and texture.

Start with line art

Start with some basic line art to set the composition and define the forms you’ll paint later. This stage isn’t mandatory, but helps you separate the problems of construction and lighting. Create a basic background colour to lay the foundations for your colour palette.

Block in basic lighting

Block in the basic forms of the figure with a simple Hard Round brush. Get the basic feel for ice at this stage before doing any fancy texture work. Think of all the forms as simply as possible; as basic cylinders, spheres and so on. Don’t overcomplicate things.

Introduce textures

Start introducing some basic textures on top of the smooth surfaces. Paint studies from photos if you do not know how to depict the different materials in your piece yet. The point is to get enough variation to the surfaces in order to give you a good grounding when it comes to painting in the details.

Reflections and highlights

Start painting reflections and highlights. Think of the light source and how the light is behaving with the materials. Make colour adjustments if necessary. The shadows don’t get very dark as light is bouncing around all over the place and also penetrating the surfaces and illuminating them from the inside.

The finishing details

Paint lots of small cracks and other details to finalise the effect. Try to get enough variation in the different surfaces. Don’t be afraid to change the design even at a late stage if you feel like something isn’t working the way you want. Make the final level and colour adjustments to punch up the tones, and that’s it!

A steampunk image can live or die by the quality of the painted metal – if it is dull or unrealistic then the overall image will lose its impact.

Issue 39 of Fantasy Artist includes a useful tutorial for painting a robot on a rampage and covers many essential techniques you need for stunning steampunk. We’ve included one below, for more pick up issue 39 in the shops, online or digitally.

Painting metals

A good way of keeping metallic objects consistent throughout your scene is to first create a couple of references for yourself. Create a new layer, keeping it separate from the others, and then paint a small sphere, a cube and perhaps a cylinder too. Highlights, suggested reflections and colours can then be painted onto these simple building block shapes, depending on the lighting requirements of your scene. Now you have a reference layer to refer to and pick colour from.

In addition to the obvious drawing techniques needed for successful manga images, you can also take a little tip from the world of colour.

Study your colour wheel. The complementary colour to blue is yellow/orange, so if you place these together then it will really pop out. You should also keep in mind cultural colours: red, for example, is a more traditional Chinese colour than orange, so that is how we chose the hunter’s robe colours in this particular image. All these little planned out details do add up in the long run.

Discover how this image was created in issue 39 of Fantasy Artist. On sale in the shops, online or digitally.